The present invention relates to a connector which is used when charging LP gas into an LP gas storing cylinder to be employed for a fuel source of a portable gas burner instrument and more particularly to an LP gas recharging connector which makes it possible to recharge the LP gas easily in a house.
There is a conventional LP gas storing cylinder which is used for a portable gas burner instrument. This conventional cylinder comprises a main body having a top portion to which a gas take-out nozzle constituting part of a gas shut-off valve is attached so as to be able to advance and retreat. When the LP gas storing cylinder is attached to the gas burner instrument, the gas take-out nozzle is pushed into the cylinder to open the gas shut-off valve. Conversely, when it is removed from the gas burner instrument, the gas take-out nozzle advances to close the gas shut-off valve.
Generally, the gas storing cylinder of this type is charged with LP gas in a factory and thereafter is circulated in the market. The gas shut-off valve is formed from one gas passage. Therefore, a trial to recharge the LP gas has resulted in vain unless the charging gas is pressurized by a compressor or a receiving gas storing cylinder is cooled to have a low temperature so as to reduce its inner pressure because gas residual in the cylinder is pressurized to resist pouring as soon as the LP gas recharging begins. For this reason, the LP gas could not be recharged in an ordinary house. Therefore, the LP gas cylinder was generally disposed after the gas contained therein had been used and could be employed only once.
However, the disposed gas storing cylinder still keeps so sufficient a strength that it costs a huge amount of expense to deal with the disposed gas storing cylinders. Therefore, economical loss resulted from disposing the gas storing cylinders still usable as well as from dealing with the disposed gas storing cylinders.
Thus the present Applicant previously proposed a portable gas storing cylinder able to be easily recharged with the LP gas (patent application Ser. No. 10-313089). Attached to a top portion of this gas storing cylinder is a valve unit including a gas take-out nozzle and a guide pipe. When recharging the LP gas, gaseous component within the cylinder is adapted to be taken out.
The previously proposed portable gas storing cylinder has a disadvantage that a supplying portable gas cylinder must have a nozzle directly connected to a nozzle of a receiving portable gas cylinder and maintain the connecting position for a long time.
In an attempt to solve the above disadvantage, the present invention aims at providing a connector for LP gas storing cylinders, able to easily retain the supplying portable gas cylinder connected to the receiving portable gas cylinder at a predetermined position when recharging the LP gas in a house.
The present invention is characterized by positioning one retainer for a supplying LP gas cylinder on an upper surface of a connector main body which houses a flow passage opening and closing valve, and arranging the other retainer for a receiving LP gas cylinder on a lower surface of the connector main body, an LP gas receiving inlet provided by opening the upper surface of the connector main body at a mid portion of the one retainer communicating with an LP gas taking outlet provided by opening the lower surface of the connector main body at a mid portion of the other retainer through the flow passage opening and closing valve.
The present invention positions the one retainer for the supplying LP gas cylinder on the upper surface of the connector main body which houses the flow passage opening and closing valve and arranges the other retainer for the receiving LP gas cylinder on the lower surface of the connector main body, the LP gas receiving inlet provided by opening the upper surface of the connector main body at the mid portion of the one retainer communicating with the LP gas taking outlet provided by opening the lower surface of the connector main body at the mid portion of the other retainer through the flow passage opening and closing valve. Thus when the receiving LP gas cylinder and the supplying LP gas cylinder are supported by the lower surface and the upper surface of the connector main body, respectively, gas shut-off valves of the respective cylinders are opened to connect the supplying LP gas cylinder to the receiving LP gas cylinder through communication passages formed in the connector main body, thereby enabling the LP gas contained in the supplying LP gas cylinder to flow down into the receiving LP gas cylinder. At this time, gas residual in the receiving LP gas cylinder is taken out of the cylinder through a guide pipe formed in a valve unit of the receiving LP gas cylinder to thereby smoothly flow down the LP gas within the supplying LP gas cylinder into the receiving LP gas cylinder.